


Ruffled Feathers

by Legs (InsanityRule)



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 09:06:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4660800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanityRule/pseuds/Legs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Jared, holy fuck, it's just a bird!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ruffled Feathers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lies_d](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lies_d/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Lies_d!

"Richard?" Jared follows Richard as he exits the room. He's been watching the new Condorcam - a much lower quality video but the museum got enough requests to let people know how the egg was faring to at least set something up - all morning with no luck and at this point little hope. No one else seems to understand the distress Jared is feeling about this little egg, but he has yet to ask Richard's opinion. And certainly their fearless (fearful) leader will understand; objects of each other's affections and what have you. If anyone is going to at least feign interest in Jared's hobbies Richard is the most likely candidate. "Richard, I've been watching the new Condorcam and I'm very concerned."

"Uh huh," Richard doesn't face him, but that's alright. He's trying to find something in the fridge. Getting proper nourishment is important, and regular meals help with anxiety. Jared doesn't want Richard getting anxious just because he forgot to eat. "About the egg?"

"Yes, you see, before it was just unlikely, but I'm afraid it's been far too long for the egg to still be viable. Certainly you know about the gestation length of a California Condor."

"Yep, 55ish days. It's actually a range but that's a good average."

"Well it's been well over that time, but not only that, the condor has yet to return to lay the replacement egg, common in their species, and I'm beginning to worry about the mother."

"Uh huh, maybe she flew somewhere new?" Richard pulls some ingredients to make a sandwich out of the fridge and carries them to the counter. He's still not looking at Jared, but it's okay, it's fine. He's still lending his ear to Jared's concerns. Jared tugs the small cord on the bottom hem of his vest to pull it just a bit tighter around his torso.

"The species is still in critically endangered status. Almost thirty years ago they were extinct in the wild, and it's only due to these wonderful programs that they've made such a comeback."

"Right, conservation efforts and all that."

"Exactly, so it's very important to treat each individual egg with great importance. Normally a condor only lays every other year. Not a terribly sustainable reproductive cycle, but important to ensure the chicks survive." Jared fidgets with the hood of Richard's sweatshirt, rubbing his fingers over the edge of the fabric. It’s rather calming.

"Look, Jared-"

"Maybe the museum should remove the egg? Perhaps that will help encourage the mother that she must lay a new egg. What if there was no fertilization? Richard, this species is in a very critical state and losing even one-"

"Jared, holy fuck, it's just a bird!" Richard turns around for the first time, and now Jared can't look at him. "I know you're excited or whatever but we have a lot of work to do. CES is in a less than two months. And... and I'm kind of trying to still be a good leader without being CEO. And Gilfoyle and Dinesh are pushing my buttons and... I have more important things to worry about."

Jared presses his lips together and blinks. Emotions are just high. Richard didn't mean for that to sound hurtful. Surely he's going to apologize. He's a caring, thoughtful person after all.

"Don't you have paperwork? Or... or that submission form or something?"

"Right, yes," Jared's voice breaks and he sniffs. "I'll be right there." He covers his eyes, mutters 'excuse me', and rushes from the room.

-

He fucked up.

Okay, well fucked up is a bit harsh. Richard's a bit stressed out, he could tell he wasn’t going to be able to handle conversations today. He can't get his algorithm to cooperate and had to restart his computer five times. Someone ate his ice cream and left the empty container in the freezer. CES is creeping closer and closer and not only is he contending with a new CEO, although she's super friendly and nice it's still hard to no longer be your own boss, he's contending with fucking Endframe. He about shit himself when Bighead told him about the buyout.

But now he's yelled at Jared, absolutely dismissed his worries in the one hobby he's shared with the group, and at a greater length with Richard, and made him cry. Well, probably cry. Jared left the kitchen before Richard could really tell.

And he really wants to find him and apologize, but he absolutely cannot leave a bug in his code that causes crashes 80% of the time. It takes almost an hour to find a stupid typo buried in his lines of code, and by the time he's fixed the problem he's feeling anxious and nauseated. And he still hasn't seen Jared since the whole, 'it's just a bird' thing.

He is not good at this. His forehead feels like it's trying to wrinkle permanently from creasing so much (Horray one more nail in the ‘Richard is an old man at 26′ coffin.) and he's run out of chap stick again thanks to that whole lip thing he swears he doesn't do, but knows deep down that he does. Little kids crying is bad enough, but Jared crying is like a national tragedy. And he's so damn quiet about it too.

So quiet that Richard can't find him.

Without Noah's old guest house and the entire garage being one giant sever room Richard thought this would be easy, but Jared isn't on his cot in Richard's room, or the kitchen, or anywhere outside. His car is still in the driveway and his keys are in the bowl on the bookshelf, so he's probably not in there. And Richard is calm. He is fine. This is not terrifying in the slightest.  
He is so worried about where Jared's run off to he's nearly thrown up twice.

It's fine though, he's an adult. He's probably just found a quiet place to sit. And Richard's certain he'll turn up.

But finding him sooner rather than later is probably best.

He drops his phone a few times but it's fine. He still manages to call without any trouble. And it's ringing. And ringing.

Shit he's not answering.

Richard calls again, and his breathing is getting a bit fast but that's okay. He's okay. In, out.  
He can hear tweeting is he losing his mind?

Wait, wait that's Jared's ringtone. Of course it's Jared's ringtone. Okay, this is good. He calls again and listens for the tweets.

And then he's rushing across the house and to the door leading to the basement. Richard holds onto the railing, he's not about to fall and crack his head open (Crap bad thoughts no don't think about that.), and slowly walks through the finished basement until he can hear someone sniffling in the back corner by Erlich's elliptical.

"Jared, oh fuck," Jared's trying so hard to hold in any sound but he looks so unhappy, "fuck I'm sorry. Jesus I'm such an asshole."

"I didn't mean to," Jared croaks and covers his mouth of course he blames himself. Richard is such a dick. "Pied Piper, it should be my focus," he gulps, "but the egg is," Jared trails off with a sigh. He hiccups once, just a small pop, more a tiny jerk than a sound, and Richard can feel his eyes get watery.

"No it's... I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry. I'm stressed as fuck and there's a lot to still do. But..." He rolls his shoulders and swallows around the knot in his throat. This is not what his stomach needed right now. "Hey um," Richard holds his arms out, "yeah?"

Calmly and quietly, Jared moves forward until he's resting his forehead on Richard's shoulder. Richard wraps one arm around Jared's shoulders, the other hanging limply at his side until Jared laces their fingers together. “I forgive you, and it’s understandable. Tension is rather high in the work space.”

“Yeah,” Richard squeezes Jared’s hand, feeling a bit of the anxiety slip away when Jared squeezes back. "Sorry about the egg."

"There are other breeding programs." He still sounds so disappointed. "But it would have been nice to see another hatchling make it."

"Well um," he rocks back and forth a bit and Jared sighs, "there's a... well you know the Oregon Zoo? They have a baby there right?"

"Yes. It's a few months old now." Jared curls just a little bit tighter against Richard. "But it's rather far."

"Well we're... fuck we're super busy right now but um... after CES we can always go up there? Make a weekend trip or longer, I don't know."

"I'd like that very much Richard." He wraps his arms loosely around Richard’s torso.

"Good, good. It's a date."


End file.
